Common knowledge
by Cal.J.Fielding
Summary: A Dave Malucci centric piece. It's a work in progress and short at the momnet. Exploring the sides of Dr. Dave that are not known by the ER staff.
1. Prologue

The El was running late.

The snow that had been falling for most of the night and morning, making riding his bike a truly bad idea, was now making his other mode of transport late. And if there was one thing he didn't want to be that was it.

It wouldn't matter to Kerry Weaver that he had been on time or early for the rest of the week, all that would register with her was that Dave Malucci was late, and that meant she could make his day hell, not that she wouldn't do that anyway.

He even understood that it was her job to discipline, cajole, and moan at her subordinates, but what he didn't understand was why she only seemed to do it to him. Carter could come into work a few minutes late and she'd ignore it. Jing-Mai could stand and talk to someone and that was fine as long as she went back to work soon, but him, he couldn't even turn up early and work as well as he could without being yelled at for something.

Not that anyone should want him to work there anyway, or at least that was what the continuous criticism seemed to imply.

He shook his head slightly, trying to shift such thoughts from his mind. He didn't really like to moan, and things could be much worse, he had a job at a well-respected hospital and he liked his colleagues, even Weaver, and the snow was still pretty despite the fact it was holding him up.

He pulled himself to his feet and moved out on to the platform where the layer of black ice that covered the wooden boards was a treacherous obstacle for anyone who wasn't expecting it.

The El had arrived. It was 5 minutes late.

Five minutes had translated to twenty minutes by the time he stepped into the ER. Twenty minutes he knew he'd have to make up at the end of his shift, despite the fact that it wasn't his fault and he had important things to do that afternoon.

Sure enough, he hadn't got further than the front desk when the sound of a crutch on the linoleum indicated the approach of Weaver herself. He turned to see the diminutive doctor hurtling towards him, clutching a pile of charts that she promptly thrust into his arms.

"Hey Chief, I…" He barely got the words out before she was brushing past him, a rejoinder that she "didn't want to hear it" drifting back over her shoulder towards him.

He shrugged to himself as he continued on towards the lounge, pushing through the door and dumping the charts he held onto the sofa. Stripping off his coat as he walked to his locker, swiftly changing into the scrub top he habitually wore over his street clothes. Then grabbing the clipboards from the sofa and throwing a longing glance at the coffee-pot he headed back out into the ER, to what would be a day full of boils and flu sufferers if the charts he read were any indication.

He was twenty-seven minutes late when he introduced himself to his first patient, and he already knew it was going to be a very long day.


	2. Chapter 1

He went to brush his hair back from his face, exhaustion and frustration weighing heavy on his mind, but stopped with his hand in mid air to pull off the latex glove with which it was clad, before completing the movement.

His shift had ended thirty minutes ago, his late arrival already made up for, but he still had two patients that the chief refused to allow him to hand over. He grabbed a clean set of gloves from a supply cart and snapped them on, walking quickly along the corridor towards the administration desk. He needed to collect the lab results for his next patient and hopefully catch a few minutes break whilst doing so.

It was typical of his day that Dr Weaver was also at the desk when he arrived, looking slightly annoyed and presumably on hold, judging by the phone she had clamped between her ear and shoulder. She glanced up when he reached for a chart, the irritated expression fading, being replaced by actual warmth, reminding Dave why he had nicknamed her "Chief" as well as "Festus".

She smiled slightly, lips parting in preparation for speech, when the phone she held flared to life and her attention was snatched away, her hand scribbling information onto a pad she had at the ready. He'd flashed a smile in her general direction and was already a few paces away when the phone clattered into its cradle and his name was called out.

"Malucci"

He turned, noted that the warmth was still present, but also saw a sheepish look that had previously been hidden by irritation.

"Yeah?" He inquired, eyes squinting in the afternoon light, brow wrinkled in thought.

"There's, some… they arrived about twenty minutes ago, said not to disturb you, that they'd wait, I meant to tell you but." She trailed off, her hand waving in the vague direction of the phone, and Dave, not unfamiliar with the hell of switchboard holding systems, understood the problem.

"Yeah, it's okay, thanks. They in chairs?"

"I directed them to the lounge"

He shifted on his feet, hands fidgeting with the chart he held, catching his thumb on a sharp edge and reminding him of its presence, of the patients he had left.

"I...um, I gotta deal with these two cases, could... would you tell them I'll be with them soon?"

"Dave, give the charts to Chen, your shift finished awhile ago and you've actually worked hard all day."

The look of surprise on Jing Mai's face was mirrored on Dave's, and he nearly fumbled the rundown of the patients' conditions as he transferred them into the other doctor's care.

"Sorry" He said, sounding anything but, a wide smile spread over his face as he made to follow Weaver, "I've got someone waiting."

"Don't tell me, a beautiful girl, you no doubt picked up in a bar last night" Chen's sarcastic voice called after him.

"Beautiful yes," Was Dave's rejoinder, "but don't let him hear you call him a girl."

Silence reigned in Dave's wake. The admin desk staring at his rapidly departing back, until the silence was finally broken by Haleh

"Did that boy just say what I think he said," and at the chorus of nods and murmured agreement added, "now this I got to see"

She wasn't the only person suddenly heading in the direction of the lounge.


End file.
